Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Mud Lawn Frustrates Users In Battery Park City

The Lawn - 2011. The new field in West Thames Park turned to mud shortly after it opened last summer and residents are not happy. The contractor who built the park used the wrong kind of sod according to the Battery Park City Authority. Despite strong community opposition, NY State Department of Transportation (DOT) went ahead with thecontroversial $ 9.4 million planwhich removed the original playground to accommodate "Pataki's Promenade," a plan left over from the previous administration which extended the promenade north, through the playground. The plan also destroyed more than a dozens trees.

State DOT, which built the park for the authority, planned to install new sod in April or May, a spokesman said. (Photos: By Julie Shapiro/DNAinfo )

The Lawn - Spring 2010. Irrigation issues on the lawn and poor drainage in the children's spray shower area have added to the frustration of park users.

The field's grass died almost immediately after children first began playing on it last summer, and since then it has drawn complaints from residents who are upset that their highly anticipated, promised field is just a large stretch of dirt.

"It's very unpleasant," said Robert Mueller, a board member at the Battery Park City Authority. "It's right in the middle of everything … It's such an obvious eyesore in a place where we have no eyesores."

Mueller, who lives in Battery Park City, said at a board meeting this week that his neighbors kept asking him what's going on with the field.

Gayle Horwitz, president of the Battery Park City Authority, replied that the contractor who built the park used the wrong kind of sod. The sod has a layer of clay underneath it, which prevented drainage and stopped the grass from growing, she said.

The State Department of Transportation, which built the park for the authority, planned to install new sod in April or May, a spokesman said. The field will then be closed for several weeks while the root knits into the soil, so the new grass lawn will not be ready until mid-June at the earliest.

Jessica Weitzman, 38, a Battery Park City resident who brought her 7-year-old son to the park recently, said the mud didn't stop kids from playing on the field, much to their parents' chagrin.

"They have literally destroyed their clothing," Weitzman said. However, she added, "We're so desperate for [playing] space — at least we have some space to run around."

Sunita Iyer, 40, another neighborhood mother, said the lawn was perfect when it was covered by snow this winter, but the springtime mud puddles are becoming a problem.

"I hope they'll fix it," Iyer said. "It's one of the only fields that's open [year-round]."

The tire swing in West Thames Park was taken down shortly after the playground opened last year after several children were injured. The swing has still not returned. The State planned to reinstall the tire swing this spring at the request of Community Board 1, but they had not set a date, a spokesman said.